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LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 


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THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


The  Lifting  of  the  Veil. " 


INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE 


of  the  course  on  Hebrew  History  and  Literature,  by  Ret'.  Dr   H.  Pereira  Mendcs 

Minister  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Synagogue,  delivered  by 

request  at  the  Young  Men' s  Hebrew  Association, 

New    York. 


REPRINTED  FROM  "THE  MENORAH,"  5648. 


N  H  \V     YORK: 

PHILIP  COWEN.  PRINTER  AND  PUBLISHER. 

498-500  THIRD  AVENUE, 

5648-1888. 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 


speak  of  Jewish  history,  not  as  a  recital  of  barren  facts, 
but  as  a  history  of  incalculable  importance  in  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  world;  not  as  a  series  of  oft-told 
tales  or  childhood's  Bible  stories,  but  to  show  the  unity  of 
design,  that  we  may  follow  it  understandingly  and  therefore 
comprehend  how  far  we  personally  are  concerned  therein;  in 
other  words,  to  lift  the  veil  which  shrouds  the  workings  of 
the  God  of  humanity,  who  in  mercy  and  love  so  shapes  the 
drama  of  human  life  that  it  shall  be  climaxed  in  happiness 
universal — this  is  my  object. 

If  from  a  point  of  view,  built  up  by  centuries  and 
millennia,  we  gaze  upon  the  vast  expanse  of  history  spread 
before  us,  we  cannot  pause  to  search  out  the  genesis  of  even' 
episode  or  historic  speech  any  more  than  from  the  mountain- 
top  we  can,  in  describing  the  whole  scene  unfolded  to  view, 
pause  to  trace  the  beginning  of  each  blade  of  grass  or  tree- 
leaf,  all  of  which  combine  to  make  up  the  whole,  each  of 
which  offers  more  food  for  study  than  a  lifetime  can  digest. 

At  once,  then,  let  us  climb  to  our  point  of  observation  to 
view  the  scene  as  a  whole,  and  as  it  unfolds  let  us  rest  our 
minds  on  some  of  the  crystallized  thoughts  which  we  call 
literature. 

Scenes  in  the  far  distance  of  time  are  dimly  seen,  the 
mists  of  thousands  of  years  hang  before  them.  But  when  we 
look  upon  those  before  us,  when  we  open  creation's  page,  we 
are  at  once  made  conscious  of  a  feeling  of  awe  and  soul-thrill- 
ing reverence  for  the  great  Master  of  the  universe  who  knocks 
at  the  door  of  our  hearts.  For  we  learn  that  the  scene  of  our 
history — this  world  we  live  in — is  but  a  speck  in  the  vast 
expanse,  is  itself  like  a  leaf  is  to  a  whole  forest,  but  one  small 
feature,  with  its  duty  prescribed,  with  its  place  assigned. 
And  as  the  rustle  of  the  leaf  helps  with  its  little  to  swell  the 
forest  anthem,  so  this  little  earth  of  ours  helps  with  its  mite 

209G610 


4  THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

to  make  the  Universe,  of  which  it  is  but  a  very  small  feature, 
1 '  declare  the  glory  of  the  Lord. ' ' 

This  testifying  to  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  the  key-note 
of  Jewish  and  of  human  history.  For  the  glory  of  a  king  is 
the  well-being  of  his  subjects.  The  glory  of  the  great  King 
of  kings  is  the  happiness  of  His  creatures.  Jewish  history  is 
but  a  means  to  this  end.  This  is  how  it  is  to  be  understood.. 
For  thus  understanding  it  we  will,  as  we  trace  it,  even  though 
scenes  most  unhappy  and  sounds  most  discordant  will  at  times 
arrest  our  attention,  learn  to  appreciate  theliigh  ideals  which 
our  prophets  were  the  first  to  preach  for  man  to  long  for  and 
to  strive  for.  So  learning,  our  own  lives  will  be  influenced 
"by  the  experience  of  the  past  and  the  hope  of  the  future. 
Influence  on  life,  personal  or  national  life,  is  the  legitimate 
end  of  History.  It  means,  in  our  case,  that  we  will  become, 
according  to  our  intelligence,  workers  towards  these  ideals, 
which  the  aim  of  the  philosopher  and  the  dream  of  the  poet, 
constitute  the  mission  of  the  Jew.  Let  me  say  at  once  what 
that  mission  is.  It  is  the  promotion  of  that  blossoming  forth 
of  human  character  which,  beautiful  and  fragrant,  shall 
secure  mankind's  happiness.  When  this  universal  happiness 
shall  be  attained,  then,  in  the  happiness  of  the  creature,  the 
glory  of  the  Creator  will  be  manifested. 

The  steps  which  humanity  has  taken,  is  taking,  towards 
this  ideal  have  been  and  are  very  gradual.  They  follow  in 
ordained  order.  They  obey  the  rule  of  Law.  In  fact,  the 
evolution  of  the  beauty  of  man's  spiritual  nature,  on  which 
human  happiness  depends,  seems  to  follow  the  same  course 
as  did  the  evolution  of  the  beauty  of  the  material  nature. 

This  is  not  strange.  For  in  the  laboratory  with  the 
microscope,  and  in  the  study  with  the  telescope,  we  find  a 
wonderful  similarity  in  what  first  seems  to  us  diversity  in  the 
methods  of  the  Creator. 

Now,  we  know  that  at  the  point  where  the  Holy  Book 
tells  us  the  material  creation  ended,  the  spiritual  nature  of 
man  began  its  development.  We  may  expect  that  what  is 
law  in  the  material  world  is  also  law  in  the  spiritual  world, 
for  the  ways  of  God  are  the  same.  We  are  not  disappointed. 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

For  thus  we  read  as  to  material  creation  on  the  initial  page 
of  Holy  Scripture: 

"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth.  And  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void,  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the  spirit  of  God  was 
hovering  upon  the  surface  of  the  waters.''  When  this 
beginning  was,  how  long  earth  was  in  the  condition  of  tohu, 
without  form,  or  rather  bewildering  chaotic  confusion,  and 
bohu,  not  void,  but  with  the  germ  of  all  in  it,  Scripture 
sayeth  not.  All  we  are  told  is  that,  amid  the  darkness  the 
spirit  of  God  was  moving  over  the  waters  when  the  first  fiat 
was  heard:  "  Let  there  be  light."  And  God  himself  it  was, 
so  saith  the  Holy  Writ,  who  made  the  distinction  between 
light  and  darkness.  Next,  as  the  Scripture  describes,  there 
was  the  expansion  of  an  atmosphere,  which  constituted  a 
division  between  the  waters  of  our  earth  and  the  ethereal 
fluids  above,  of  which  it  says  nothing,  and  of  which  we  know 
nothing.  Then  flowed  earth's  waters  together,  revealing  dry 
land.  Whereupon  the  germs  of  vegetable  life  sprouted  forth, 
and  the  sun  became  visible  with  the  hosts  of  heaven.  Then 
were  the  lower  orders  of  animal  life  created,  next  the  higher 
types  ;  and  last  the  highest  of  all,  man.  And  the  whole 
seemed  to  God — hineh  tob  meod — u  behold,  very  good." 
Then,  as  if  creation  was  not  yet  complete,  the  Sabbath  was 
instituted. 

Mark  now  the  similar  course  of  man's  spiritual  develop- 
ment. Amid  the  darkness  which  sits  upon  the  heaving 
waters  of  human  thought,  amid  the  tohu  "the  chaotic  con- 
fusion" of  ideas  in  the  mind  of  man,  where,  nevertheless, 
there  are  bohu  ("in  it"),  the  germs  of  all  that  is  good,  there  the 
spirit  of  God  moves.  The  first  glimmerings  of  light  mys- 
terious become  visible — a  light  divine,  through  which  man 
learns  the  distinction  between  moral  darkness  and  moral  light. 
The  distinction  is  due  to  God  Himself.  As  a  result  of  a  con- 
sciousness of  right  and  wrong,  however  vague  and  shadowy 
it  be,  man  learns  to  understand  that  there  is  a  something 
a  sphere  beyond  ours — of  which  nothing  is  directly  stated, 
and  of  which  nothing  is  directly  known.  For  truly  next  to 


6  THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

the  thought  of  God,  and  a  standard  of  right  and  wrong, 
immortality,  a  more  or  less  dim  perception  of  a  future  state, 
is  to  be  marked  in  the  development  of  man's  spiritual  nature. 
Then,  as  in  material  nature's  creation,  next  appeared  the 
dry  land  and  the  rock,  then  earth's  vegetation,  blossoms  and 
leaves,  fragrancies  and  colors;  so  in  the  midst  of  the  waters 
of  human  thought  the  rock  of  faith  appears,  and  at  last  firm 
ground  of  belief  for  man  to  tread  and  build  upon  is  revealed. 
Whereupon,  like  hills  with  verdure  clad,  ideals  bright  with 
promise  are  seen  for  man  to  climb.  And  gradually  are 
rendered  possible  the  blossomings  of  effort;  gradually  become 
evident  the  tender  leaves  of  hope,  the  fragrancies  of  truth,  all 
the  glorious  colors  of  human  character.  For  then  streams 
down  the  light  divine  from  Heaven  itself  to  illumine  man's 
paths  and  to  guide  him,  to  warm  and  to  cheer  him,  to  quicken 
and  to  develop  what  is  in  his  nature.  And  human  life  is 
shaped  according  to  the  response  which  it  makes  to  these 
influences,  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  God  Himself,  which 
law  declares  that  according  to  the  response  which  everything 
makes  to  its  environment,  so  shall  its  development  be. 
Lowest  order  of  human  life,  because  least  responsive  to  light 
divine  or  spiritual  environment,  we  find  "  the  wild  untutored 
savage."  From  him,  with  his  nature- worship,  we  ascend  to 
higher  types  of  man,  judging  each  type  of  manhood  by  its 
response  to  spiritual  environment.  Thus  we  pass  from 
symbol  worship,  with  its  accompanying  horrible  traits  of 
human  character,  to  the  type  whose  response  is  set  forth  in 
the  mythos-web  of  poet's  fancy,  where  darksome  colors  of 
character,  woven  amid  glorious  brilliancies,  were  brought 
out  in  contrast  sharp  and  striking.  To  types  where  higher 
•  or  better  response  to  heavenly  light  seems  discernible  we  next 
ascend.  They  are  found  where  classic  philosoph  or  Oriental 
faith-founder  worked  on  the  minds  around  him.  On  we  pass  to 
yet  higher  type,  higher  order  of  human  life,  where  the  response 
is  the  admixture  of  light  from  heaven,  with  shadows  as 
strange  and  fantastic  as  the  shadows  created  by  the  crescent 
moon,  the  symbol  of  the  type  itself.  On  to  other  type  of 
human  character,  type  represented  by  the  cross,  where  the 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  7 

response  to  spiritual  environment  is  yet  more  perfect,  and 
more,of  the  light  divine  is  received,  and  then  reflected.  On 
to  highest  type  of  all  we  ascend,  where  the  response  to 
spiritual  environment  is  perfect,  and  the  light  divine  is  so 
reflected  that  all  the  colors  of  human  character  in  prismatic 
beauty  blend  in  all  shades  and  hues  of  spiritual  beauty. 

It  is  the  type  of  perfect  human  character,  the  highest 
order  of  human  being,  and  it  is  the  type  which  is  found  in 
the  scroll  of  the  Hebrew,  who  is  bidden  be  perfect  with  God. 
Indeed  his  very  environment,  when  he  reaches  the  ideal  of  his 
inspired  scroll,  is  God — to  live  in  God,  to  walk  with  Him,  to 
"set  Him  before  Him  alway.''  When  this  ideal — last,  and 
therefore  best — is  by  all  humanity  reached,  then  the  spiritual 
development  of  humanity  will  be  complete,  and  shall,  like 
ended  creation  of  old,  seem  to  the  Creator  tob  meod — "  very 
good.''  Then  comes  the  crowning  glory,  when  men  shall 
u  rest  in  the  Lord,''  and  the  blessings  of  material  peace  shall, 
with  the  blessings  of  spiritual  peace,  be  conjoined.  Rest! 
Peace!  that  is  Sabbath!  Rest:  freedom  from  care!  Peace: 
peace  in  the  heart!  Man  at  peace  with  God!  That  is  indeed 
happiness!  Thus  the  story  of  earth's  material  creation  is 
paralleled  by  the  psalm  of  man's  spiritual  development  Tis 
a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  for!  What  stands  in 
the  way  ? 

Man's  want  of  self-control,  man's  refusal  to  obey  the 
Divine  will,  even  when  the  reason-why  of  a  prohibition  is  not 
understood.  This  much  we  learn  from  the  story  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden.  Why  else  is  that  episode  narrated  ?  Man's 
insufficient  rjespect  for  God;  man's  impatience  and  cruelty; 
this  much  we  learn  from  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel.  Man's 
obliteration  of  the  laws  of  nature,  to  which  perhaps  we  owe 
the  fancy  limnings  of  mystic  creatures  of  blended  types. 
Man's  unspeakable  violence — so  much  we  learn  from  the  story 
of  the  flood.  That  story!  From  all  lands  come  its  echoes! 
In  Babylon  it  is  Xithuthros  ;  in  Britain,  Dwyvan  and 
Dwyvach.  From  Armenia,  Persia,  Syria,  India,  Greece, 
Cuba,  Mexico,  Tahito,  literally  from  "China  to  Peru,"1  come 
endorsements  of  the  Bible-flood  narrative,  useful  now  when 


8  THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

the  Bible  contents  are  viewed  with  suspicion,  just  because 
they  are  in  the  Bible.  Yes!  it  was,  and  it  has  ever  been, 
the  faults  of  human  character  which  have  stood,  and  stand,, 
in  the  way  of  the  realization  of  human  happiness. 

At  last  the  spirit  of  God  moves  on  the  waters  of  human 
thought,  and  Abram,  the  son  of  Terah,  responds  to  the  Light 
Divine.  As  if  again  the  ' '  Let  there  be  light '  was  heard,  he 
sets  forth  to  spread  the  light  of  true  religion.  His  light  was 
the  result  of  his  response  to  true  spiritual  environment.  Yet, 
let  us  mark  this  fact,  which,  at  the  very  inception  of 
his  life  work,  shows  it  was  the  Providence  of  the  world — 
Father,  all  mankind's  Father — which  sent  him  forth  from 
Chaldea  to  Canaan.  Not  to  rescue  his  own  family  from  soul- 
death,  like  Noah;  or  peril,  like  Lot,  was  he  sent.  The  very 
first  command  was,  that  he  was  to  go  forth  and  be  a  blessing; 
that  through  him  the  families  of  earth  should  be  blessed. '' 
This  is  the  keynote  of  Jewish  history.  It  is  in  harmony 
complete  with  the  music  of  human  history.  It  is  a  command 
such  as  we  might  expect  from  Him  who  is  Father  of  all. 

Of  the  lives  of  Abraham  and  his  successors,  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  in  detail.  They  knew  their 
mission,  which  we  find  set  forth  in  what  is  called  the 
Abrahamic  blessing.  This  is: 

i st.  "  That  God  shall  be  our  Lord,  and  we  His  people;  z&. 
That  we  shall  be  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  as  the  sand  by 
the  sea,  and  that  we  shall  spread  like  the  dust  of  the  earth;  3d. 
That  we  shall  possess  Canaan;  4th.  That  the  families  of  earth  shall 
be  blessed  by  our  means." 

We  know  that  Abraham  commanded  "his  children  and 
his  household  after  him  to  preserve  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to 
do  righteousness  and  justice,  in  order  that  He  should  bring 
to  pass  His  purpose  which  He  had  spoken  concerning  him. '' 
(Genesis  xviii.,  19.)  The  fulfilment  of  this  blessing,  and  the 
bringing  to  pass  of  the  Divine  purpose,  are  identical.  They 
do  but  mean  the  institution  of  brotherhood,  peace,  and 
happiness  universal.  They  constitute  what  I  have  termed 
the  mission  of  the  Hebrew.  It  becomes  us,  therefore,  to 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  0 

investigate  the  methods  adopted  by  the  patriarchs  and  their 
successors  in  their  efforts  to  promote  our  world  mission, 
to  "  preserve  the  way  of  God"  and  accomplish  His  purpose.'' 
There  are,  it  seems  to  me,  two  special  features  in  their  policy 
to  be  particularly  observed.  The  one  is  protestant,  the  other 
is  separatist. 

In  pursuance  of  the  first,  they  built  altars  to  the  real 
God  and  proclaimed  or  "called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord," 
thus  protesting  against  the  errors  around  them.  Among 
their  practical  protests  must  be  mentioned  the  so-called  trial 
of  Abraham's  faith.  Rather  it  was  a  "lifting  up  "  of 
Abraham — a  rendering  the  Hebrew  permits—  to  be  a  standard 
of  conduct.  It  was  a  protest  against  that  foul  blot  of 
Canaanite  practice,  child-sacrifice,  voiced  by  the  refusal  of 
God  to  accept  it — the  whole  undertaken  only  in  order  to 
practically  publish  the  fact  of  the  Divine  rejection.  He 
would  not  accept  the  death  of  the  son.  How  many  Canaanite 
parents  must  have  wished  that  their  gods  were  like  the  God 
of  Abraham  !  The  horrors  of  the  custom  are  described  in 
profane  history,  as  in  the  history  of  Carthage,  a  colony  of  the 
Phoenicians  or  Canaanites.  Plutarch  describes  how  mothers 
would  stand  by,  and  groan  not  nor  weep,  lest  their  merits 
should  be  diminished;  and  from  other  sources  we  know  how 
the  little  ones  were  hushed  with  kisses  and  blandishments  as 
they  were  led  to  the  frightful  death. 

In  pursuance  of  the  second,  the  separatist  policy,  Abraham 
in  order  to  keep  his  son  Isaac  separate  from  Canaanite 
or  anti-Hebrew  influences,  sent  to  his  former  home  to  obtain 
there  a  wife  for  him,  so  that  he  should  not  marry  a  woman 
of  Canaan.  For  what  kills  religion  in  the  home  of  the 
contracting  parties  more  than  inter-marriage  ?  What  could 
have  more  marred  the  life  of  Isaac  as  the  successor  of 
Abraham  in  the  new  religion,  the  religion  of  protest,  than  a 
marriage  with  a  woman  of  Canaan,  whose  religion  was  so 
antagonistic,  and  against  which  the  teachings  of  Abraham 
protested  ?  Similarly  Isaac  bade  Jacob  seek  a  wife  from 
Laban's  daughters.  In  the  same  spirit  of  separation 
Abraham  would  be  under  no  obligation  to  the  Hittites  ;  to 


10  THE  LIFTING  OF   THE  VEIL 

place  his  loved  dead  in  ground  of  theirs  would  have  been  a 
tie  of  union  ;  hence  he  insisted  on  a  tomb  of  his  own.  In 
accordance  with  the  separatist  policy  he  sent  away  from 
Isaac  his  other  children,  whose  mothers  naturally  would  have 
influenced  them  with  their  own  religious  ideas.  In  the  same 
separatist  spirit  Isaac,  living  long  and  growing  rich  among 
the  Philistines,  never  merged  with  them,  though  they 
courted  his  alliance.  Similarly  Jacob  would  not  stay  .with 
Laban  where,  had  he  wished,  he  could  have  lived  more  and 
more  at  ease  as  the  years  sped.  Thus  too,  he  separated 
from  Esau.  In  the  same  spirit  his  sons  would  not  accept 
union  with  the  Shechemites.  And  it  is  significant  that  in 
Egypt  Joseph  separated  his  father's  family  by  giving  them 
the  land  of  Goshen. 

In  Egypt  however,  their  enslaved  descendants  aban- 
doned the  protestant  policy  ;  for  except,  as  Maimonides 
remarks,  the  descendants  of  Levi,  third  son  of  Jacob,  they 
worshiped  Egypt's  gods.  In  this  very  tribe  of  Levi  was 
born  the  rescuer  Moses — trained,  we  cannot  but  believe,  by 
special  Providence,  in  the  royal  court  where  he  learned  the 
wisdom  of  Egypt  and  thus  was  fitted  for  his  roles  as  soldier, 
legislator,  leader.  For  the  time  had  come  when  the  world- 
work  of  the  Hebrew  race  was  to  receive  a  distinct  impetus. 

Identifying  himself  with  the  slave-race,  though  he  thus 
cast  aside  his  career  of  honor  open  to  him  as  an  Egyptian 
noble  and  royal  protege,  he  fled  to  Midian.  There,  as  a 
shepherd,  he  must  oft  have  pondered  on  his  people's  past 
and  promised  future.  Maybe  the  legend  of  his  tender  solici- 
tude for  the  wandering  lamb  does  but  indicate  his  solicitude 
to  lead  to  the  true  waters  of  life  those  who  had  strayed  far 
away,  his  own  people  first,  and  through  them  the  world! 
Such  a  desire  would  have  been  a  logical  result  in  a  mind  like 
his,  stored  with  the  traditions  of  his  people's  past  and  their 
hopes  of  a  glorious  future,  with  which  the  world's  happiness 
was  identified  ;  traditions  and  hopes  which  he  could  have 
learned  from  his  mother  who  nursed  him  at  the  royal  court, 
and  who  was  of  the  tradition-holding  tribe  of  Levi,  and  also 
from  his  own  inquiries  from  other  sources  ;  traditions  and 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  11 

hopes  which  must  have  been  known  to  him  to  cause  him  to 
champion  hts  enslaved  race.  Armed  with  the  demand  for 
his  people's  freedom,  he  received  as  he  entered  Egypt,  final 
instructions  voicing  recompensing  justice  to  the  king  who 
had  ordered  the  death  of  all  the  male  children  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  who  thus  aimed  at  their  extermination.  ''Thus  saith 
the  Lord,  Israel  is  My  son,  My  first  born,  and  I  say  unto  thee 
let  My  son  go,  that  he  may  serve  Me,  and  if  thou  refuse  to 
let  My  son  go,  behold  I  will  slay  thy  son,  even  thy  first- 
born." So  ran  his  message  to  Pharaoh. 

But  when  did  God  ever  forget  to  temper  justice  with 
mercy  ?  When  did  God  ever  punish  without  giving  the 
chance  to  render  the  punishment  unnecessary  ?  Four 
hundred  years  before  when  the  covenant  between  the  portions, 
the  Berith  ben  habetarim,  was  by  Him  made  with  Abraham, 
He  had  said  He  would  not  punish  the  Amorite, 
at  once,  for  their  measure  of  sin  was  not  yet  full  ;  four 
hundred  years  of  grace  or  respite  thus  were  granted.  And 
what  was  the  work  of  the  patriarchs  but  that  of  mission- 
aries to  the  Canaanite  nations  ;  also  to  render  their 
punishment  avoidable  ?  And  what  was  the  destruction  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  but  a  salutary  lesson  for  the  rest  of 
the  land  ?  So  with  Pharaoh  of  Egypt.  1  he  punishment 
first  threatened,  the  death  of  the  first-born,  was  not  at  once 
inflicted.  Nine  other  punishments 'were  sent  of  increasing 
intensity,  attacking  first  the  people's  convenience  or 
comfort,  then  their  property,  before  the  one  which  directly- 
attacked  human  life  was  inflicted  in  retributive-justice. 
Nine  times  Mercy  spake  ! 

But  the  clemency  of  the  Lord  in  thus  deferring  the 
plague  first  promised  was  misinterpreted  by  Pharaoh.  In  a 
mind  like  his,  educated  to  faith  in  his  country's  gods  alone 
and  unaccustomed  to  be  corrected  or  called  to  account,  not 
only  the  ability  of  the  God  of  the  slaves  to  so  punish  him  was 
perhaps  naturally  doubted,  but  the  respite  which  was  so 
repeatedly  and  seemingly  so  easily  gained,  served  only  to 
make  him  think  that  that  God  was  not  in  earnest  or  found  it 
impossible  to  inflict  the  penalty.  Hence  the  very  indulgence 


12  THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

of  God  was  a  cause  of  the  king's  heart  being  hardened;  hence 
the  Bible  phrase  that  Pharaoh  hardened  his  heart,  or  that  God 
hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh. 

Now,  the  separatist  feature  of  Hebrew  history  had  been 
maintained  during  the  sojourn  in  Egypt,  due,  it  is  true, 
to  Egyptian  policy. 

But  the  protestant  feature  had  not  been  so  displayed.  It 
remained  now  for  God  to  effect  a  display  simply  magnificent 
in  its  effect.  For  we  cannot  imagine  that  God  could  be 
wishful  to  pit  Himself  against  a  weak  mortal,  though  the 
mortal  be  great  even  like  Egypt's  king.  His  purpose  was  not 
only  to  rescue  the  Hebrews,  it  was  also  to  protest  against  the 
folly  of  the  Egyptian  religion.  Hence  the  verse,  "On  all 
gods  of  Egypt  I  will  execute  judgments."  (Ex  xii  12.)  What 
the  judgments  were,  the  Egyptians  were  speedily  forced  to 
admit. 

From  the  ancient  monuments,  from  classic  authors,  from 
modern  Egyptologists,  we  learn  with  what  crushing  force  the 
plagues  must  have  fallen,  and  how  thoroughly  the  gods  of 
Egypt  must  have  been  humbled. 

Plutarch  and  Heliodorus  speak  of  the  deified  Nile,  Hero- 
dotus and  Clemens  write  of  the  sacred  fish.  But  the  Bible 
recounts  how  the  Nile  was  turned  to  blood  and  the  fish  died, 
and  what  was  sacred  thus  became  a  source  of  disgust !  Two 
of  the  above  named  authors  remark  on  the  constant  ablutions 
and  personal  cleanliness  demanded  for  the  exigencies  of  wor- 
ship, thus  the  first,  second  and  third  plagues  stopped  worship 
throughout  the  whole  of  Egypt  !  Modern  research  informs 
us  of  the  reverence  paid  to  certain  wild  animals — the  fourth 
plague  showed  wild  animals  as  a  source  of  terror  and  danger! 
To  learn  how  the  domestic  animals  were  worshiped  we  need 
not  the  evidence  of  Strabo  and  Lucian — but  the  fifth  plague 
destroyed  all  these  deified  animals  of  Egypt!  If  Amon  Ra 
was  hailed  as  "the  sovereign  of  life  and  health  and  strength,' 
the  sixth  plague,  a  disease  through  which  no  man  could  stand, 
as  the  Bible  indicates,  demonstrated  that  god's  uselessness  and 
prevented  attendance  at  his  or  any  temple!  If  the  gods  could 
not  secure  their  own  worship,  what  must  their  votaries  have 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  \'.\ 

thought  ?  Then  again,  Plutarch  shows  how  fire  and  water 
were  reverenced.  But  fire  rode  on  the  storm-blast,  while 
thunder  pealed  its  victory!  That  tempest,  the  seventh  plague, 
was  summoned  by  Him  '*  who  inaketh  the  winds  His  mes- 
sengers." And  when  the  murmurs  of  courtiers'  mutiny  were 
unheeded,  He  summoned  on  the  east-wind  the  locusts  to 
destroy  all  growth  the  storm  had  spared.  Thus  should  the 
Egyptians  judge  between  the  gods  of  Egypt  who  were  thought 
to  call  forth  earth's  life,  and  Him  who  had  proclaimed  to  them 
that  "He  was  the  Lord  in  all  the  earth!  "  Then  the  Sun- 
god  was,  as  if  disgraced,  bidden  hide  his  face  for  three  days. 
And  at  last  great  Osiris,  hymned  as  the  "Lord  of  life,"  was 
judged,  and  proved  worthless,  for  the  angel  of  death  sped 
forth  in  the  night,  and  there  was  not  a  house  without  its 
dead  !  The  work  of  protest  was  complete  ! 

Forth  went  the  Hebrews,  and  among  the  echoes  of  the 
past  concerning  the  event  we  find  the  following  from  the 
Greek  writer  of  antiquity,  Strabo,  written  by  him  unconscious 
of  the  priceless  value  of  what  he  wrote  :  "  Moses,  an 
Egyptian  priest,  who  possessed  a  considerable  tract  of  Lower 
Egypt,  unable  longer  to  bear  with  what  existed  there, 
departed  thence  to  Syria,  and  with  him  went  out  many  who 
honored  the  Divine  Being." 

Of  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  of  the  wonderful  events  of 
the  desert-life,  of  the  place  of  worship  with  its  mysterious 
Holy  of  Holies  dedicated  to  the  invisible  God,  of  the  legislation 
of  Moses  and  the  side-work  of  such  as  Aaron  and  Miriam,  I 
cannot  here  pause  to  speak.  For  our  theme  is  the  unity 
or  connection  of  Hebrew  history,  not  the  details,  though  they 
are  of  such  surpassing  interest. 

Twenty-five  centuries  had  lapsed  since  the  commence- 
ment of  man's  spiritual  history.  Or  to  be  more  correct,  2448 
years  after  man  first  trod  the  earth,  the  "  armies  of  the  Lord" 
marched  forth.  To  fight  what?  What  was  the  future,  what 
were  the  thoughts  of  Moses  not  only  on  the  night  of  that 
i5th  of  Nissan,  'the  night  to  be  much  observed  ' — but  through- 
out his  forty  years'  leadership  ?  It  is  important  that  we  try 
to  understand. 


14  THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL 

He  surely  knew  the  ultimate  destiny  of  his  people  from 
his  mother  or  other  sources,  as  I  have  stated.  He  knew 
therefore  the  Abrahamic  blessing,  and  not  least,  that  part 
of  it  which  said  that  the  new-born  nation  was  to  be  a  source 
of  blessing  to  all  the  families  of  earth. 

The  first  revelation  to  him,  by  the  light  of  the  burning 
bush,  was  that  the  blessing's  fulfilment  was  to  be  at  once 
forwarded.  The  second  was  at  the  moment  of  entering  Egypt 
as  the  instrument  to  bring  it  about,  when  he  was  told  that  his 
people  was  the  first-born  of  God.  This  implied  that  the 
other  nations  were  also  His  children. 

A  third  revelation  was  at  Sinai.  Here  he  learned  that 
the  reason  of  the  supernatural  deliverance  of  Israel,  the  'bear- 
ing of  eagles'  wings  '  (Ex.  xix.  4)  by  Him  to  whom  '  all  the 
earth  pertained '  (verse  5),  was  that  the  nation  should  be  '  a 
kingdom  of  priests  '  (verse  6).  Priests  to  whom,  to  minister 
to  whom,  unless  to  the  other  peoples  of  earth  ? 

Now  a  successful  ministering  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  a 
world,  as  of  an  individual,  means  the  conveyance  of  that 
blessing  the  culmination  of  which  is  peace,  happiness.  Such  a 
blessing  is  that  which  Aaron  was  commanded  to  convey 
to  his  people.  Such  a  blessing  is  that  which  his  people 
was  and  is  destined  to  convey  to  the  world.  But  Moses 
saw  the  moral  unfitness  of  the  Hebrews,  he  knew  their 
waywardness,  their  discontent,  their  want  of  fear  of  God  ; 
for  the  stories  of  Marah,  Sin  and  Rephidim  showed 
speedily  to  him  their  character.  He  knew  also  that  after  his 
death  they  would  be  utterly  corrupt  (Deut.  xxxi.  29),  and 
that  punishment,  exile,  would  await  them  (ib.  14).  More 
than  all  knew  he  that  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Hebrew  mission 
there  would  be  necessary  that  exhibition  of  God's  mercy, 
compassion  and  forbearance  of  which  he  was  made  conscious 
at  the  solemn  moment  when,  after  the  sin  of  the  golden-calf 
had  again  evidenced  the  Hebrews'  fickle  nature,  he  was  made 
to  see  God's  "after-parts,"  or  to  be  more  correct,  he  was 
made  conscious  of  the  "that  which  comes  after"  in  God's 
workings  for  His  earthly  children's  happiness.  This  "that 
which  comes  after ' '  is,  let  it  be  emphasized,  the  exhibition 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  lf> 

of  that  Divine  mercy,  pity  and  forbearance  which  were  then 
proclaimed,  (Exod.  xxxiv.,  6),  which  come  after  Israel's 
faults  and  the  world's  follies  and  blot  out  the  sad  story,  and 
through  which  alone  human  happiness  is  rendered  possible. 

His  duty  was  therefore  to  prepare  his  race  for  their 
mission, bearing  in  mind  that  many  would  be  the  years  before 
the  mission  would  be  accomplished  The  Psalm  inscribed 
with  his  name  seems  to  reflect  these  thoughts.  There  he  under- 
stands that  a  thousand  years  are  with  God  but  as  yesterday; 
he  speaks  of  long  days  of  affliction,  years  in  which  the  chosen 
race  experiences  sorrow.  He  asks  that  God's  works  be 
manifested  at  last  to  His  servants,  and  ends  with  the  prayer 
that  their  world-work  may  be  established  and  the  beauty  of 
the  Lord  be  therein  manifested.  (Psalm  xc.) 

Mark  we  how,  in  discharging  what  he  conceived  to  be 
his  duty,  he  followed  the  thoughts  of  the  patriarchs  and 
emphasized  the  protestant  and  separatist  features.  It  is  as  if 
he  understood  that  only  by  a  policy  of  protest  and  separation 
could  the  mission  of  his  race  be  fulfilled  and  the  antagonistic 
influences  to  be  naturally  born  in  the  coming  centuries,  be 
resisted. 

He  did  understand  this.  For  God,  finding  that 
Moses  was  like  Abraham,  able  and  wishful  to  respond  to  an 
environment  of  true,  spiritual,  Divine  light,  caused  His  light  to 
shine  upon  him,  by  revealing  to  him  what  we  call  His  will, 
revelation,  Torah,  law.  This  law  insists  on  these  features  : 
protest  against  error,  separatism  from  antagonistic  influences. 
Protest  and  separation  thus  become  our  war  cries,  our  watch- 
words, to  advance  our  mission  and  secure  it  when  accom- 
plished. 

The  law  he  received  was  to  be  the  criterion  of  conduct. 
What  was  or  was  not  adapted  to  the  habits  of  an  existing  or 
future  civilization  was  of  no  importance  to  him.  The  views 
and  habits  of  the  then  existing  civilizations  tolerated  idolatry, 
child  sacrifice,  incest  and  worse  if  there  can  be  worse,  as  he 
well  knew.  The  views  and  habits  of  future  civilizations 
connived  at  lying,  encouraged  theft,  and  countenanced 
adultery,  as  we  know.  The  will  of  God  as  revealed  in  the 


10  THE  LIFTING  OF  7  HE  VEIL 

law  of  Moses,  as  it  is  usually  called,  permits  no  trifling  or 
compromise  with  the  standard  of  conduct  and  guide  of  life 
there  presented.  A  Hebrew  living  for  example  in  Sparta 
in  the  days  of  Lycurgus,  could  not  trifle  with  the  letter  of 
the  Seventh  Commandment  though  modification  thereof  was 
in  accord  with  the  views  and  habits  of  the  civilization  of  the 
Spartans  around  him.  This  is  perhaps  worthy  of  some  con- 
sideration by  those  who  would  trifle  with  the  letter  of  say 
the  Fourth  Commandment,  which  seems  to  somewhat  agitate 
the  public  mind,  even  though  such  modification  is  by  them 
thought  to  be  in  accord  with  the  views  and  habits  of  our 
surrounding  civilization.  Against  all  that  does  not  accord 
with  the  criterion  of  conduct  which  Moses  inculcates,  and 
which  he  sums  up  in  the  words,  '  be  holy,  for  I  the  Lord  am 
holy,'  (Lev.  xix.,  2.,)  the  duty  of  the  Hebrew  is  to  protest 
by  the  silent  but  mighty  protest  of  a  pure  life  well  lived,  so 
that  others  shall  say,  '  surely  it  is  a  wise  and  an  understand- 
ing people.'  (Deut  iv.,  6.) 

Not  less  does  he  emphasize  the  separatist  feature  of 
Jewish  history.  Many  of  his  commands  tend  to  keep  us 
separate — "we  are  distinguished  from  all  peoples"  (Exodus 
xxxiii.,  16);  "  We  are  set  above  every  nation  .  .  to  be  a 
holy  people"  (Deut.  xxvi.,  19);  "  I  am  the  Lord  your  God 
who  have  separated  you  from  all  peoples"  ILev.  xx.,  24);  "  I 
have  separated  you  from  all  peoples  to  be  Mine"  (Ib.,  26). 

This  much  for  the  two  great  features  of  the  Torah 
legislation,  on  which  we  cannot  here  linger  longer. 

Where  the  rustlings  of  the  woods  of  Moab's  mountains 
make  mournful  memory-music  for  Moses,  the  master-mind 
of  our  nation,  we  leave  that  great  legislator.  We  pass  with 
his  successor  into  Canaan.  We  hear  his  summons  to  the 
inhabitants — 'surrender,  leave  Canaan  or  fight, 'and  we  under- 
stand the  echo  from  the  distant  end  of  Africa,  where 
Procopius  read  :  ' '  We  are  they  that  fled  from  the  face  of 
the  robber  Joshua,  son  of  Nun. ' ' 

We  observe  the  decay  of  religious  sentiment  after  his 
death,  for  a  Micah  sets  up  his  idolatry  and  a  Levite  coun- 
tenances the  crime  by  being  its  priest.  We  find  the  people 


THE  LIFTING  OF  THE  VEIL  .17 

reproved  and  punished  with  foretastes  of  captivity,  from 
which  they  are  temporarily  rescued  by  Judges.  Deborah 
and  Gideon,  Jephthah  and  Samson  flit  by.  The  sin  of  Gibeah 
and  the  part  played  by  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  portray 
fearful  religious  turpitude,  redeemed  only  by  the  stern 
chastisement  of  the  other  tribes. 

Even  a  Samuel  fails  to  wholly  correct  existing  evils — a 
king  is  asked,  and  a  king  is  appointed.  Saul  leads  the 
people  united  ;  David  extends  the  kingdom  to  its  utmost 
borders,  the  Euphrates  ;  and  a  Solomon  builds  the  Temple, 
honored  as  no  other  temple  has  ever  been.  But  toleration  of 
anti-Hebrew  religious  ideas  wreaks  the  ruin.  Even  Solomon, 
wisest  of  men,  compromises  on  the  "protest  policy,"  for  he 
permits  idolatrous  worship  within  sight  of  the  Holy  Temple 
which  he  built  and  dedicated  so  enthusiastically.  And  he 
compromises  on  the  <l  separatist  policy,''  for  among  his  faults 
are  indicated  his  marriages  with  women  not  of  the  seven 
Canaanite  nations,  but  yet  not  Hebrews  (i  Kings  xi. ,  i.). 

The  nation  is  on  the  path  of  religious  decay  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  of  prophets  and  the  revivals  of  certain  kings. 
Riven  after  Solomon's  death,  one  part,  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
after  about  250  years  is  destroyed,and  the  ten  tribes  composing 
it  disappear.  Some  hundred  and  thirty  years  more,  and  the 
other  part  consisting  of  the  remaining  two  tribes  is  carried 
to  Babylon.  The  ruin  is  the  result  of  the  departure  from  the 
policy  of  protest  and  separatism,  and  had  been  foreseen 
by  Moses.  For  the  whole  period  of  history  which  we  have 
covered  was  but  preparatory,  was  but  the  lifting  of  the  veil 
which  shows  God's  workings  in  mankind's  development 
Now  we  arrive  at  the  era  when  those  mighty  changes  are 
preparing  and  those  grand  histories  commencing  with 
which  the  thread  of  Hebrew  history,  Hebrew  thought,  is 
interwoven.  It  is  the  era  of  the  Babylonian  captivity. 
While  the  captives  weep  by  Babel's  streams,  the  ruined 
powers  of  Edom,  Moab,  Philistia,  Ammon,  Syria  disappear, 
and  old  Egypt  knows  kings  of  her  own  race  no  more. 
New  powers  are  rising.  It  is  the  era  of  the  founders  of  the 
great  Oriental  faiths.  Could  these  thinkers  think  without  being 


18  THE  LIFTING     >F  THE  VEIL 

influenced  by  Jewish  thought,  w  .ich  was  to  be  met  throughout 
the  kingdom  which  stretched  fr  m  India  to  Ethiopia  ?  An  i  it 
is  the  era  of  the  infancy  of  Gret  :e  and  Rome.  For  while  Uiat 
king  reigned  in  Judah  upon  whom  '  the  Assyrian  came 
down  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold,'  those  lived  who  saw  Re}  lus 
leap  in  scorn  the  walls  of  new  founded  Rome,  those  sj  oke 
who  heard  Lycurgus  speak.  Thus  then,  when  Judah's 
children  were  carried  to  Babylon,  history  had  well  com- 
menced for  those  powers  in  whose  tongues  the  teachings  of 
the  Jew  were  destined  to  be  conveyed  to  the  world.  Oriental 
religions  and  Western  tongues  thus  used  to  do  something 
towards  leading  the  nations  of  earth,  God's  children,  to 
Him  the  Father  of  all  !  And  through  their  contact  with 
Israel,  His  son,  His  first-born  !  Does  not  this  show  the 
workings  of  God's  purpose — the  working  out  of  Israel's 
mission  ?  Enough  for  the  present.  I  have  brought  you  to 
the  time  of  the  lifting  of  the  veil,  which  on  its  rising, 
shows  these  workings  not  on  the  confined  stage  of  Palestine? 
but  on  the  stage  of  the  whole  wide  world. 

Like  the  'dust  of  the  earth'  the  descendants  of  the 
patriarchs  and  the  inheritors  of  the  Abrahamic  blessing  are 
from  this  Babylonian  era  scattered  throughout  the  earth.  Like 
the  "stars  of  heaven'*  they  henceforth  in  all  lands  reflect  on 
earth  the  light  from  heaven. 

Like  the  '  sand  of  the  seashore  '  we  shall  find  them, 
resisting  the  waves  of  doubt,  the  currents  of  error,  the 
storms  of  human  passions.  And  we  shall  find  how  thus  is 
brought  about  the  declaration  to  Abraham,  the  "  In  thee 
and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed.'" 


